New Leaf Custom Homes

About

For New Leaf Custom Homes, the foundation of their company is providing the highest quality work for their clients. And on that foundation, their strong framework is anchored by the values of honesty, integrity, genuineness, transparent communication, and displaying their passion for excellent design.

“But,” says founder Scott Powell, “the ultimate focus — beyond building homes, of course — is to build lasting relationships with clients, which organically occurs when you treat people like family.

“We’ve built and fostered strong relationships with friends and family all over the Dallas area,” he said. “In fact, some of our closest friends are past clients.”

Scott and Melissa Powell started New Leaf Custom Homes in 2007. During the lean years of the housing market crash, they cut their teeth in the business by starting with kitchen and bath remodels and smaller home additions. But, as the months passed, they gradually picked up more and more new custom builds, moving from smaller markets like White Rock Valley in Lake Highlands to bigger markets like Lakewood and Forest Hills.

“We’ve had quite the journey,” Melissa shared. “After starting out as a remodeling company, we turned into a custom home builder and gradually became a boutique custom design-build firm. And after we brought our favorite designers in-house back in 2014, we really committed to our own brand and identity, allowing us the freedom of not having to rely upon the outside influence of third-party designers.”

And although they still work with outside designers, and enjoy doing so, New Leaf has continued to establish their identity as they’ve brought together what they consider their family.

“Honestly, we’re having more fun now than we’ve ever had before,” Melissa said. “When you work with people you truly enjoy, it’s fun to come to work.”

Today, they have a nice mixture of projects in the largest Dallas markets, making their mark in areas such as Preston Hollow, University Park, and Bluffview. This growth was fueled in part by their ability to translate a client’s vision into reality.

“Since we all speak different ‘languages,’ we’ve learned that visually communicating with clients is key,” said Brett Davis, Vice President of Design for New Leaf Custom Homes. “We ask clients to create online design boards with images they love and we go from there. We work with them to articulate their style, sometimes in ways the client may never have imagined! For example, we’ve had people walk in saying they want nothing to do with modern design, but after analyzing their design board, it turns out they’re more modern than they thought!”

The visual communication continues by creating home designs utilizing 3-D software. This allows clients to “fly through” their prospective home, all by using an app on their smartphone.

“Before we start construction, we create high quality renderings of every house so that our client knows exactly what they’re getting,” Brett said. “Additionally, our interior design packets are 60-70 pages, and in some cases, much more— we leave nothing to the imagination.”

Another key element to their success? New Leaf “front-loads” their design-build efforts.

“We spend a large amount of time, much more than most builders, tackling important details before a foundation is ever poured,” said Scott.

That means they tackle every last detail upfront — from the address numbers to the mailbox — before the client signs a contract or even secures their bank loan. Doing some heavy lifting prior to construction saves everyone a lot of heartache.

“The unexpected costs and delays that come from making selections or finalizing designs during construction generally leads to the most heartache, or bitterness, that can come with building a home,” said Scott. “We believe, and have even been told by clients who’ve built custom homes prior to working with us, that our process actually makes building a home enjoyable. And this accolade comes from clients who swore they’d never build again.”

But at the end of the day, Scott shared they love displaying their creativity and getting to do things with their clients that haven’t been done before.

As for the future, Scott’s goal is to continually produce quality custom homes that will establish them as one of the leading custom home design-build firms in Dallas. Their desire is to be known for what they love to do: high style, cutting-edge design, and the highest quality construction.

Testimonials

New Leaf delivered exactly as promised. I was pleasantly surprised by the precision of our estimate. I had predicted that, like most constru...New Leaf delivered exactly as promised. I was pleasantly surprised by the precision of our estimate. I had predicted that, like most construction budgets, mine would end up 10-20% higher than the original estimate. New Leaf actually came in under time and under budget and provided me with an extremely high quality of work. Read More

âMatt, Lakewood

Scott and the New Leaf team built our first home in Dallas. After moving away from Dallas, we worked with a different builder in a different...Scott and the New Leaf team built our first home in Dallas. After moving away from Dallas, we worked with a different builder in a different city and that experience made us extremely appreciative of New Leaf's communication, flexibility and style. Read More

âK.L. Dallas

Our experience with New Leaf was collaborative. We were trying to accomplish a specific style in our new home, which led to changes during t...Our experience with New Leaf was collaborative. We were trying to accomplish a specific style in our new home, which led to changes during the process. Our project manager was a good listener and offered both creative and budget conscious suggestions. New Leaf got the job done with outstanding results. We were on time, on budget, and the quality of the work performed was exceptional. Read More